When someone wants to learn more about domestic violence, they typically do one of a few things: go online, talk to friends and family, call a hotline, join a group or read books. That’s why DomesticShelters.org has added a “recommended books” section to its fastest growing website that offers information on more than 3,000 hotlines and help programs.
“If you were looking for a book on domestic violence and you weren’t familiar with the available titles, you’d probably do what most people do these days, you’d consult a search engine,” says Chris McMurry, a board member for Theresa’s Fund, which operates DomesticShelters.org. “We’re making the process easier and removing the guesswork by listing in one place some of the best books available.”
There more than 30 recommended books on topics such as identifying and escaping abuse, survivor stories, becoming a survivor, relationships, incest and child abuse, and teens and children. Each title includes a descriptive overview and a way to purchase through Amazon.
“It’s not easy for people to know what to look for and find what they need, especially if they are new to the topic. Like we’ve done with the thousands of domestic violence program websites and a vast sea of content on abuse, we’ve coalesced the many books on the topic that are scattered about to make finding help faster and easier.” adds Anita Hildreth, executive director of Theresa's Fund.
Among the recommended books are these examples:
- Scared To Leave, Afraid To Stay: Paths From Family Violence To Safety by Barry Goldstein
- The Verbally Abusive Relationship: How To Recognize It and Respond by Patricia Evans
- Not To People Like Us Hidden Abuse In Upscale Marriages by Susan Weitzman
- For the Latina in an Abusive Relationship by Myrna M. Zambrano
- Why Does He Do That? Inside the Minds of Angry and Controlling Men by Lundy Bancroft
- Surviving Domestic Violence: Voices of Women Who Broke Free by Elaine Weiss
- Survivor's Guide Through DV and How to Thrive In Its Aftermath by Crystal Schwindt
- Why Me? Help for Victims of Child Sexual Abuse by Lynn Daugherty
- When Dad Hurts Mom: Helping Kids Heal from Witnessing Abuse by Lundy Bancroft
- Safe People: Find Relationships That Are Good for You and Avoid Those That Aren't by Henry Cloud & John Townsend
- Dating After Trauma by Emily Avagliano
The recommended books area of the site is also available through a new “powered by DomesticShelters.org” widget that allows anyone to copy-and-paste a snippet of code into their website in order to offer the same books to their own site’s visitors. For more on the widget.
DomesticShelters.org is the fastest growing website in North America on the topic of domestic violence. It launched in August, 2015, offering a searchable online and mobile database of domestic violence programs to make finding help faster and easier, and has since expanded to include more than 150 articles on domestic violence, comprehensive statistics, widgets, and now recommended books.
About Theresa’s Fund
Theresa’s Fund is an Arizona-based 501(c)3 non-profit charity started in 1992 by Preston V. McMurry, Jr. Originally, and at a time when domestic violence wasn’t yet a headline, Theresa’s Fund focused on changing the landscape of domestic violence services in its home state through grant making, board development and fundraising for Arizona-based organizations like East Valley Child Crisis Center, Sojourner Center, Florence Crittenden, Emerge, UMOM, and West Valley Child Crisis Center. In 2014, it developed the DomesticShelters.org concept as a way to expand its reach to people across the U.S./Canada. DomesticShelters.org is the first online and mobile searchable database of programs and shelters in the U.S./Canada, and a leading source of helpful tools and information for people experiencing and working to end domestic violence.
